


What Happened Next

by glymr, irrelevant



Series: Sawdust and Spangles [3]
Category: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics), Robin (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bittersweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-23
Updated: 2010-03-23
Packaged: 2018-03-08 21:27:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3224039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glymr/pseuds/glymr, https://archiveofourown.org/users/irrelevant/pseuds/irrelevant
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Mr. Wayne is--he knows them." Tom--Tim turns his face into Dick's shoulder. "They'll take me away from you."</p>
            </blockquote>





	What Happened Next

**Author's Note:**

> This part is by irrelevant.

Mr. Wayne wants them to live with him, but every time he comes to visit them, Tommy goes white and still and starts breathing too fast. One night when the nuns have finished their rounds, Dick crawls into bed with him as usual, curls himself around him and asks why.  
  
Tom is very quiet and completely still in Dick's arms for a long time. Then he says, "I'm not really an orphan." And Dick learns about a big house in Gotham with one small boy and a housekeeper and two people who should have been there but never were.  
  
"Mr. Wayne is--he _knows_ them." Tom-- _Tim_ turns his face into Dick's shoulder. "They'll take me away from you."  
  
Dick lies awake for a long time after Tommy falls asleep. Tommy, because Tim belongs to those people who don't deserve him. Tommy is Dick's.  
  
The next time Wayne comes to see them, Dick says, "Thank you, sir. But if you really want to help us--"  
  
As it turns out, Dick has a second cousin a few times removed who's part of a circus that moves around Europe. She's an aerialist, as is her life partner, and the two of them are more than enthusiastic about having a pair ready-made acrobats join their lives and their act. It's the only way, Simone tells Dick when they meet in Mr. Wayne's drawing room, that she and Anna are ever going to have children. Then she laughs Dick's mother's laugh and hugs him and Tom.  
  
Dick hugs her back and looks at Wayne over her shoulder. Thank you, he mouths.  
  
Wayne's smile is more about his eyes than his mouth, but it's there. Dick thinks about the other part of Wayne's promise. There's no doubt in his mind that Zucco will end the year behind bars.


End file.
